


All I Want For Christmas

by MorganaNK



Category: Inspector Lynley - All Media Types, Inspector Lynley Mysteries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-09-26 16:14:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17144978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganaNK/pseuds/MorganaNK
Summary: Barbara is preoccupied, Tommy wants to know why.  A post-series fic





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Property of Elizabeth George and the BBC, no copyright infringement intended

“I asked you a question Barbara. Honestly, the amount of time you’ve spent glued to your phone lately I wouldn’t have trouble believing anyone who told me you were regressing back to your teenage years again!”

“Sorry Sir.” I locked the phone and slid it into my bag. “What did you ask me?”

“I asked you what you wanted to eat.”

“I don’t know, I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

I expected Tommy to go to the bar, but he stayed seated.

“What’s going on Barbara?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do. You’ve been distracted for days, always staring at your phone. Your mind is somewhere else, and if I can help with whatever is bothering you then I want to.”

“There’s nothing bothering me Sir, honestly.”

“Rubbish!”

“Rubbish?”

“Yes, rubbish. We’ve been friends and partners for over ten years, and in that time we’ve got to know each other very well.”

“It’s silly.”

“Silly or not, it’s still bothering you. Talk to me Barbara.”

“Okay, okay, but when you either laugh at me or get angry, don’t say I didn’t try and warn you.”

“I’m not going to laugh, nor am I going to lose my temper.”

“You say that now…”

“You’re stalling Barbara.”

I held my hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Jeez, stop going on already.”

“I wouldn’t have to if you didn’t keep avoiding the issue.”

“Bloody hell! No wonder suspects cave when you interrogate them. The reason I am so distracted, the reason I am always on my phone well, it’s because I haven’t got a damn clue what to buy you for Christmas!”

“You don’t have to buy me anything.”

“I do! But what the hell do you buy an earl who has everything, including two houses and a classic car? I’ve been searching Amazon, and eBay, and Etsy, and everything in between and I still can’t find anything.”

“As I said, you don’t have to buy me anything. You agreeing to spend Christmas Day with me, that’s all I need.”

“I agreed to spend Christmas Day with you because we’re both on our own and enjoy each other’s company. Spending the day together doesn’t negate the fact that I need to find you a Christmas present and I haven’t got the first clue what to get you.”

“Barbara, please, you don’t need to buy me anything.”

“But you do so much for me.”

He turned in his seat and reached for my hands, holding them tightly in his.

“As you do for me; in fact you do so much more. Barbara, the greatest gift you could ever give me is your friendship, and as I already have that, I don’t need anything else.”

“It’s not enough Tommy.”

I saw his eyes widen as he registered that I’d used his name, and then a soft smile crept onto his face.

“Surely I should be the judge of that?”

“But…”

My protest died on my lips as one of his fingers pressed gently against them, his voice low and almost hypnotic.

“You. Are. Enough. Barbara.”


	2. Chapter 2

…When I woke I was in Tommy’s bed, his arm wrapped around my waist, his breath warm against my skin.

I had no idea how we had made it from the pub to Eaton Terrace, but what I did know was that I had no regrets.

“You’re thinking, should I be worried?”

I wiggled in his embrace so that I could face him.

“Nope, nothing to be worried about.”

His relief was palpable.

“That’s good to know. Did you sleep well?”

“Sleep? What is this thing that you speak of?”

I was surprised to see him blush.

“No, we didn’t do much sleeping, you make a very valid point.”

“I’m definitely not complaining.”

“That’s also good to know.”

I smiled warmly, “we discovered quite a few things that were good to know over the course of the last few hours, things that I never believed we would know about each other.”

“And now that we do?”

“You sound worried again, which you have no need to be.”

“Deep down I know that, but there’s a large part of me that believes I don’t deserve you, and that you will be whisked away from under my nose.”

“That’s never going to happen.”

“How can you know?”

“Because, Mr Neurotic, I have been in your life for over ten years, and no one has managed to whisk me away in all that time. Many have tried, but none of them have been successful. You’re stuck with me.”

“And there’s no one I would rather be stuck with. I’m sorry Barbara.”

“What for now?”

“Letting Mr Neurotic into our bed, he does have a habit of ruining the moment.”

I rolled us so that I was on top of him, “I know a way to get rid of him and get things back on track.”

Tommy smiled lasciviously, “oh, you do, do you?”

I nodded, “let me show you.”


	3. Chapter 3

…I got back into the car and passed Barbara her coffee. She wrapped her hands around it and sighed.

“Thanks for this, I’m frozen.”

“You know, we could just resign.”

“We could, but what would we do with our time?”

I reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, “stay in bed, make love, make babies.”

One of her hands reached out and covered mine, “as lovely as that sounds, babies cost money.”

“Which you know we have plenty of.”

“You have plenty of.”

“No, we have plenty of.”

“You know I don’t feel comfortable spending your money.”

“Yes, I still have earache from the time you told me off for painting your parents’ house. But that doesn’t change anything; my money is your money. If it would make you happier, we could always get married.”

I expected her to react like Helen did, and therefore almost missed her answer.

“Okay.”

“I know it’s not… sorry, what did you just say?”

“I said okay. It’s not the most romantic of proposals, but then I’m not one of those women who needs big romantic gestures.”

“You’ll marry me?”

“If the trade off is that I get to spend my days making love to you, I think I can hack being Lady Asherton.”

“The things I put you through.”

“But I still love you.”

“A fact I will never take for granted.”

“I won’t let you. Now, as we have just got engaged I think that we should change our plans for Christmas.”

“And do what exactly?”

“We should go to Howenstow and share our news with your family.”

“Christmas at Howenstow with my family will be a baptism of fire. You do know that their interrogation will be worse than anything Webberley, Hillier or Evans could ever think up.”

“With you by my side Tommy, I’m happy to take that chance.”


	4. Chapter 4

…”Well, that didn’t go as badly as I expected.”

“Honestly Tommy, you need to loosen up a bit.”

“I do try.”

“Well try a bit harder.”

He turned and stuck his tongue out at me, “yes dear.”

“I could change my mind about marrying you.”

Hurrying to my side, he pulled me into his arms, “you wouldn’t, would you?”

I sighed, but at the same time nestled closer to him. “Of course not.”

“I’m sorry for being so needy.”

“Another appearance by Mr Neurotic, it’s lucky I’m used to him now.”

“And it’s lucky that you love him.”

“There is that. So, what plans do we have for Christmas Eve?”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I was planning on spending the entire time in bed.”

“Don’t you have Lord Asherton responsibilities?”

“Lord Asherton responsibilities? I’ve never heard it called that before.”

I playfully slapped his chest, “behave!”

“I’d much rather misbehave with you.”

“As would I but, being serious for a moment, don’t you have to attend the local nativity play or midnight mass or something?”

“Nope. The only worship I’m planning on doing is of you in the bedroom.”

“Isn’t there a song about that?”

I yelped as he tackled me onto the bed, before dissolving into hysterics as he tickled me. I squirmed, trying to escape him, but soon surrendered. He rolled us so that I was trapped underneath him and tenderly brushed my hair back.

“I do love you Barbara.”

I smiled up at him, “that’s fortunate, because I happen to love you too.”

“I want you so badly it hurts.”

“You’ve got me.”

“I have, haven’t I.”

“Always.”

…I woke at five, desperate for a cup of tea. Leaving Tommy sleeping, I pulled on his shirt and crept down to the kitchen. Crossing the room, I switched on the kettle.

“Good morning Barbara.”

I spun round, clutching the shirt closed.

“Lady Asherton. I’m sorry, I didn’t think anyone would be up.”

“It’s Dorothy dear, or Daze, and you have nothing to apologise for.”

“I woke and was thirsty, I thought I’d make myself a cup of tea before having a shower.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself, Howenstow is as much your home as it is mine.”

“It isn’t.”

“You’re marrying my son, becoming Lady Asherton, Howenstow is a part of that.”

“I’m marrying Tommy because I love him, not because of his money or his title.”

“I didn’t think you were, not for a second. Anyone can see how much you love each other, it was clear to me the first moment I met you.”

“You thought I was a florist.”

“Okay, the first moment I saw you together.” Dorothy patted the chair next to hers. “Sit with me for a while.”

I made my tea and then slid into the seat.

“You’ve known Tommy for a long time now, in fact I would say that you know him far better than anyone else. He’s not the easiest person to get along with, but you’ve learnt how to. When his father was dying, and I was involved with Roddy, I’ll admit that my actions hurt Tommy badly. He only started to heal when you came into his life.”

“We hated each other when we were first partnered.”

“No, you didn’t.” I went to disagree, but she held up her hand to silence me. “I know you had your issues, just as Tommy did, but you didn’t hate each other. If you had, you would never be where you are now. You are kindred souls. You and Tommy meeting each other, it was the best thing that ever happened for both of you. I’m so happy you came into his life.”

“You’re not as happy as I am Mother.”

Tommy pushed away from the doorframe and came and stood behind me, his hands on my shoulders.

“And that’s my cue to go and get dressed. I’ll see you both at breakfast.”

After Dorothy left the room Tommy sat and then pulled me onto his lap, his lips searching for mine. I yielded to him, looping my arms around his neck to steady myself.

“I woke to an empty bed.”

I rested my forehead against his, “I needed a cup of tea, my mouth was drier that the bottom of a budgie cage.”

“And you bumped into Mother.”

“Yes, I did. How much did you hear?”

“Only the last few seconds, enough to agree with her that you are the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“I think you’ll find she said that we were the best thing to happen to each other.”

“Semantics.”

“Oooh, we’re using big words again.”

“I have a rather extensive vocabulary.”

“Whereas mine is limited and coarse.”

“I can do coarse.”

“You can?”

“Definitely.”

“Give me an example.”

“Okay, right now I want to take you upstairs and fuck you hard.”

I straddled him, my mouth level with his ear, my groin rubbing against his.

“Why go upstairs when you can take me here?”

“Keep doing that and I will.”

“That, Tommy, was the general idea.”

As he slid inside of me he grinned, “message received and understood.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I have finally finished this. It is not how I wanted it to end, but as work is still consuming 90% of my energy, as Christmas 2018 is now nothing but a distant memory, and as you have all been so very patient, I have decided to go with what I had instead of waiting for my brain fog to clear... it could have been a very, very long wait!_
> 
> _I hope you will be, if not happy, then somewhat satisfied with the final chapter._
> 
> _Thank you ~ Mo x_

…Somehow, we made it back up to our room before Dorothy or any of the staff appeared. After a quick shower we headed back downstairs. As Tommy took his seat I laughed, before quickly covering my amusement with a cough. 

“I hope you’re not coming down with a cold Barbara.”

Tommy grinned wickedly, and I was relieved Dorothy’s attention was fully focussed on me.

“No, I’m fine thank you Dorothy, it’s just a tickle.”

Tommy spluttered, and the mouthful of tea he had started to swallow ended up going down the wrong way. I waited for Dorothy to make a comment, but to her credit she just smiled and continued to butter her toast.

“So, what do you two have planned for today? I’m going into Nanrunnel if you would like to join me.”

“That’s very kind of you Mother, but Barbara and I were thinking of hanging around here, we both have sleep to catch up on.”

“So that’s what they’re calling it these days.” Dorothy’s voice was so soft we nearly missed her reply, but only nearly.

“Mother!”

…”I’ve had a lovely day today Tommy.”

“So have I.”

“Christmases were never that great for me after Terry died, but you’ve changed that.”

“Christmas wasn’t exactly my favourite time of year either, but being with you, loving you, you’ve brought laughter and light to a world that was dark and cold and miserable. I can’t promise you that things will never be hard.”

“As if I’d believe you!”

“I know you wouldn’t. Now, as I was saying, I can’t promise you that things will never be hard, but I can promise you that I will always be there for you. I will support you, and love you.”

“I still have trouble believing that this is real. I’ve been in love with you for what seems like forever, never once imagining that you could feel that way about me, and yet here we are.”

“Here we are.”

“I still feel guilty that I didn’t manage to find you the perfect Christmas present.”

I pressed my finger gently to her lips, the softness of her expression telling me she remembered our previous conversation and where it had led.

“You did Barbara, you truly did. You gave me the only thing I wanted. You gave me you.”


End file.
